Integration & Testing
For the integration and testing sub-team, we have three goals overall. Our goals do overlap with each other, but they are time-dependent and are spread throughout the six week build season. The members on I&T should be well-versed, because they are not just dealing with any single aspect of the robot. Also, there really cannot be a set schedule for this sub-team because their job varies from day to day, depending on the progress of the other sub-teams. The leader of this sub-team needs to be in constant contact with the leaders of all the other sub-teams to check the progress and remind the other sub-teams to meet their deadlines. Immediately after kick-off, this sub-team should meet and test everything from the start.
The first job is to build a practice playing field. Generally at least half of the field or less is acceptable for this because it is for practice purposes only. The supplies do not have to be exact, as a lot of plywood and cheaper materials are being used due to budgeting purposes. We also plan when the other sub-teams are going to use the field because there are different parts of the robot that will need to be tested without disturbances from another sub-team. During this time, while our team is prototyping parts, our job encompasses writing up test plans and testing the prototypes. The test plan’s purpose is to plan out what needs to be tested and to what end. This is crucial because it ensures that nothing is forgotten once we are able to test out anything. As it can be imagined, the actual testing of anything is necessary, but our job is not solely to see if any given part works. The builders do that already. We look for specific aspects of the part, such as speeds that a shooter shoots at or the precision of the cameras, to cite two examples. The final job of I&T is to integrate the components and test the robot as a whole. This checks to see if the different parts work with each other and if the robot functions as a whole. We also need to make sure that the robot is safe for team members to use and to touch. There can’t be pieces of the robot sticking out as it can seriously hurt a team member.
Tips for Rookies: An I&T sub-team should be incorporated into the team. It should contain close to the most members if not the most of any sub-team, because the members of this sub-team are not specialized. They must know every function of every part of the robot and understand at least the basics for the parts. Our team was also lucky enough to be selected by National Instruments to receive hardware and software which would facilitate our gathering and recording of feedback from the robot.
Leader: Jared
